Samuel Smiles

The wise man… if he would live at peace with others, he will bear and forbear.

An intense anticipation itself transforms possibility into reality; our desires being often but precursors of the things which we are capable of performing.

Progress however, of the best kind, is comparatively slow. Great results cannot be achieved at once; and we must be satisfied to advance in life as we walk, step by step.

A place for everything, and everything in its place.

Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.

The apprenticeship of difficulty is one which the greatest of men have had to serve.

Men must necessarily be the active agents of their own well-being and well-doing they themselves must in the very nature of things be their own best helpers.

Knowledge conquered by labor becomes a possession – a property entirely our own.

Men who are resolved to find a way for themselves will always find opportunities enough; and if they do not find them, they will make them.

The reason why so little is done, is generally because so little is attempted.

Labor is still, and ever will be, the inevitable price set upon everything which is valuable.

He who never made a mistake, never made a discovery.

The battle of life is, in most cases, fought uphill; and to win it without a struggle were perhaps to win it without honor. If there were no difficulties there would be no success; if there were nothing to struggle for, there would be nothing to be achieved.

Man cannot aspire if he looked down; if he rise, he must look up.

The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once.

Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone forever.

The duty of helping one’s self in the highest sense involves the helping of one’s neighbors.

It is energy – the central element of which is will – that produces the miracle that is enthusiasm in all ages. Everywhere it is what is called force of character and the sustaining power of all great action.

I’m as happy a man as any in the world, for the whole world seems to smile upon me!

The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual.

The work of many of the greatest men, inspired by duty, has been done amidst suffering and trial and difficulty. They have struggled against the tide, and reached the shore exhausted.

We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.

Enthusiasm… the sustaining power of all great action.

Life will always be to a large extent what we ourselves make it.

The experience gathered from books, though often valuable, is but the nature of learning; whereas the experience gained from actual life is one of the nature of wisdom.

Hope… is the companion of power, and the mother of success; for who so hopes has within him the gift of miracles.

We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.

Practical wisdom is only to be learned in the school of experience. Precepts and instruction are useful so far as they go, but, without the discipline of real life, they remain of the nature of theory only.

It is a mistake to suppose that men succeed through success; they much oftener succeed through failures. Precept, study, advice, and example could never have taught them so well as failure has done.

Progress, of the best kind, is comparatively slow. Great results cannot be achieved at once; and we must be satisfied to advance in life as we walk, step by step.

The very greatest things – great thoughts, discoveries, inventions – have usually been nurtured in hardship, often pondered over in sorrow, and at length established with difficulty.

Wisdom and understanding can only become the possession of individual men by travelling the old road of observation, attention, perseverance, and industry.